


Clingy

by woakiees



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, barba thinks he's annoying but what's new, he is sO CLINGY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21694063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woakiees/pseuds/woakiees
Relationships: Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr./Reader
Kudos: 46





	Clingy

The courthouse was quiet, which wasn’t unusual given the time of night. It was just after nine, and going over Barba’s notes for a trial that was just two day’s away was the last thing you wanted to be doing. You would much rather have preferred to be at home, in front of the TV with a warm cup of cocoa while you snuggled up underneath a cozy blanket with your boyfriend.

But, it could have been worse, you would admit. You could have been going over notes and practicing your statement by yourself, but Sonny had decided that if he couldn’t spend the night cuddling you at home, he would spend the night cuddling you on the tiny sofa in Barba’s office.

It was a nice gesture, and beyond sweet of him, but you were having a hard time focusing with his hand resting against your hip, his fingers brushing over the small sliver of exposed skin where your shirt had ridden up when you sat down. Barba noticed that you weren’t exactly 100% all there, and he couldn’t refrain from rolling his eyes every few minutes, the exasperation evident in his voice when he had to repeat himself more than once.

And when Sonny excused himself for a moment to go hunt down a decent cup of coffee, because at the rate you were going, you were going to need some sort of caffeine, Barba stopped talking altogether. You carefully lifted your gaze from the documents in your hand, looking up through your lashes to meet his narrowed eyes.

“Wha-”

“Why do you have to be dating the most maddening person on the planet?” he swiftly interrupted, his eyes narrowing even further. “Is he paying you?”

You frowned, shaking your head gently from side to side. “He’s not ‘ _maddening_ ’. In fact, he’s probably the best boyfriend I’ve ever had.”

“Well, that certainly says a lot about your exes.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes and shake your head one more time, averting your gaze from him and going back to the file in your hand.

“Oh come _on_ ,” Barbra groaned, leaning as far back as he possibly could in his office chair. “You have _got_ to admit that he’s at least a _little_ annoying.”

“Just because he annoys you doesn’t mean that he annoys me, counselor,” you responded as you continued to idly flip through the notes.

“Not even just a little bit?”

“Nope.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“Look,” you sighed, swiftly closing the case file and throwing it onto the nearby table. “Sure, he has his faults, everyone does. But I would hardly call him annoying.”

“Is being terribly clingy one of those ‘faults’?”

“He’s not clingy!”

“Oh my God, he must be paying you a lot.”

“And you call _him_ annoying.”

“I’m wounded, truly,” he deadpanned, raising a hand to his chest in mock offense.

You rolled your eyes again and pushed back into the couch, not bothering to pick the case file back up. Your brain needed a break, and Sonny had been right — you definitely needed some caffeine, and lots of it. Barba set his own copy of the file down and stood, quickly crossing the room to settle in on the other side of the sofa. His close proximity to you, and the physical contact that would soon follow, was not uncommon for you both.

You may have been the newest addition to the squad, but you had known Rafael the longest out of anyone. Your mothers had been close friends for years, both working in the education system, and while Barba was older, you two had seen a fair amount of each other throughout your life. He had actually been the one to tell you about the open position with SVU, and that’s when you had made the jump from a homicide unit in Queens to the Special Victims Unit in Manhattan.

“Listen cariño,” he mumbled, a small sigh leaving his lips as he gently patted your thigh. “I know how much you two love each other, and I’m happy for you. Really, I am.”

If he had stopped there, you would have taken what he had said endearingly.

“But he’s like a little lost puppy dog with a stupid accent.”

“First off, his accent isn’t stupid. Second, Rafi you know it’s just because he admires you and your work-”

“No, no, I’m talking about how he acts with you. He _is_ clingy!”

You swatted his chest gently, rolling your eyes for what felt like the millionth time that night. Neither of you said anything, but he looked at you expectantly, his eyebrow quirked as he waited for you to try and tell him for a second time that Sonny wasn’t clingy, and after a few seconds, his expression got to you.

“Fine! Fine, alright, he can be a little clingy at _times_.”

“Just a _little_?”

“Don’t push it, buddy.”

“ _Buddy_?”

“Whatever,” you chuckled, tapping your foot gently as you became lost in thought for a moment. “You know, there was one time I decided to walk home instead of taking the subway, and he came over to my place to check on me after I forgot to text him that I had made it back safe? I mean, he tried to call first, but my phone was dead, so I guess that’s not too bad, but-”

“It’s clingy.”

“Do you have to keep interrupting me?”

Barba stayed silent, but waved his hand out for you to continue talking. You readjusted yourself on the couch, placing your legs in his lap to make yourself more comfortable. It seemed as if Sonny was going to be a minute with the coffee.

“And he can be a little overbearing at times. Like when he gets too excited, or when he’s really passionate about something, y’know?”

“Give me an example?” he asked while lazily drumming his fingers on your leg.

“Like,” you started, trying to think of how to explain what you meant. “Like, when Liv had me go undercover on the Hansen case last year? At the strip club?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Well, he told me I couldn’t do it. And I know that he was just worried I would get hurt, which is valid, but, like, he told me it wasn’t even up for discussion.”

“But you still did it.”

You nodded your head slowly, and followed it with a small shrug. “He wasn’t actually going to stop me.”

“I can at least understand that though. I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I heard about it.”

“I mean, I wasn’t either.”

You both fell into a brief silence, and you found yourself lost in thought while Barba merely studied you, watching closely to make sure he hadn’t upset you in any way. He didn’t really dislike Carisi as much as he pretended to, and you knew that. He had been telling the truth when he said he was happy for you, and he thought Sonny could be a brilliant cop at times, and that he would make a pretty good ADA, but he would never tell him that. And he would never admit it to anyone else, except for maybe your mom as well as his because he knew how much your relationship and Sonny meant to you. But as far as Sonny and the rest of the squad was concerned, Barba would always put on an act

You were the first to speak again, effectively breaking Barba from his thoughts.

“He’s also really bad about putting his clothes in the hamper. Like, he throws them in the general direction of the basket, but if they don’t make it in, he just leaves them.”

“Considering what I’ve heard of Mrs. Carisi, I would have thought she raised him better.”

“Oh my God, his mother would kill hi-”

“Are you two done yet?”

A familiar voice cut through the room, effectively interrupting you and causing your eyes to widen as you immediately knew you had been caught. Barba’s eyes matched your own, though they were focused on the doorway behind you, where the voice had come from.

You slowly turned in your seat only to be met with a disappointed looking Sonny. He was frowning, though he didn’t look angry, and he kept his gaze on the three coffees he had balanced in a paper tray in his hands. You knew he had to have heard most of the conversation giving his expression, and you felt your stomach twist as guilt coursed through your body.

“Sonny-”

“Just take your coffee,” he mumbled, setting the tray down on the table before grabbing his own. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

“I thought you were staying at my place tonight?” you questioned, hating the way your voice rose an octave at the end, giving away the fact that you were slowly growing upset.

He shook his head and headed for the door without giving you another glance. “Wouldn’t wanna be too clingy.”

“Sonny!”

He didn’t stop, but you couldn’t really blame him. It was obvious that he was hurt — you would have been too if the roles had been reversed. You listened as his footsteps faded down the hall, and you couldn’t find the power to make yourself get up from the couch and chase after him. Barba continued to sit beside you with a guilty look on his face. He was the first to break the silence, though the tension in the air was still thick.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed you to-”

“It’s not your fault.”

“You wouldn’t have said anything if I had just shut up about it.”

You stayed quiet for a moment, but eventually stood from your seat, reaching for the file to shove it into your bag. “I think we’ve gone over enough work for one night.”

“Y/N, come on,” Barba sighed, also rising from the couch. “I don’t want you mad at me too.”

“I’m not mad at you, Rafi,” you assured him, though you didn’t turn to look at him. “I just don’t think I’ll be of much use tonight, y’know?”

Rafael nodded, though he still looked unsure. “I really am sorry, Y/N. But you know he’s not going to stay mad at you for long. He’s probably going to be sitting on your couch when you get home.”

You nodded solemnly, though you weren’t convinced. You felt awful, and you knew Sonny only felt worse. You didn’t know how you were going to make it up to him, but you knew you couldn’t do it that night. He would probably want to be alone, which was completely understandable to you.

Barba asked you to wait a moment while he gathered his things, and then the two of you left his office and walked through the empty halls of the courthouse together, and out into the night.

* * *

You groaned while entering the subway, wishing that you had been leaving the precinct rather than Barba’s office. If you had been leaving work, it wouldn’t have taken you more than twenty minutes to get to your apartment on the Upper West Side, but now, it would take you about thirty-five. And even that felt longer than normal, and you knew it was due to your racing mind.

You didn’t know what you were going to say to Sonny the next morning. You knew you were going to apologize, of course you knew that. You just didn’t know how you were going to explain yourself to him without making things worse.

After getting off at your stop, you walked the two blocks to your apartment, and slowly climbed the stairs. Once you reached your door, you took your keys out and stuck them into the lock, but it didn’t turn. You frowned, knowing that you had locked the door before you left for work that morning, before slowly twisting the knob, your other hand settled on the gun on your hip, just incase.

Once the door was open, it was obvious that your living room was empty, and you could see down the short hall into your bedroom. The initial wave of worry quickly vanished, but still, you took a few cautious steps forward, and poked your head around the corner to check the kitchen, just to make sure.

You were instantly met with a familiar figure standing by your stove, though he had his back to you, and didn’t turn even though you knew he had to have heard you enter. You dropped your purse by the door, and let your other hand fall away from your hip. You silently reminded yourself to text Rafael later that night to let him know that he had been right.

“How the hell did you get here so quickly? I left like, five minutes after you.”

“Took an Uber. Saved me ten minutes,” Sonny mumbled, still focusing on whatever it was that he was doing.

He might have been being short with you, but at least he was talking. You quietly snuck up beside him so you could take a closer look at what was on the stove.

Sonny had a large pot of noodles slowly boiling, and there was a good portion of already cooked shrimp defrosting in cold water sitting in a bowl in the sink.

“Lemme guess, shrimp alfredo?”

“Is that alright?”

“Of course it is,” you shrugged, pushing away from the counter and briskly walking to your bedroom in order to change. “You just don’t cook with seafood very often.”

Sonny didn’t respond, and that was a dead giveaway that he was still bothered by the conversation he overheard. You sighed, and took your time changing into comfier clothes. The tension in the other room was thick, and you felt like you just needed a second to breathe.

When you finally turned to walk back into the main living area, Sonny was standing in the doorway, a glass of white wine in his hand.

“You’re drinking, so I guess that means you plan on staying?”

“It’s not like I have a car,” he shrugged, slowly taking a sip from his glass. “I could take the subway, call a cab.”

“You could, but you won’t.”

“Listen, doll,” he started with a roll of his eyes. “I know I said I was spendin’ the night at my own place, which was obviously a lie.”

“Yup,” you said, making sure to pop the “p” for emphasis.

Sonny gave you a stern look in return, and you had to try your hardest not to laugh. You knew the conversation the two of you were having was serious, but you just couldn’t help yourself. You saw him crack a small smile himself.

“And you know I heard everything you said to Barba, and I also know I was bein’ dramatic, which you don’t need to agree to.”

You stayed silent this time, deciding that he was right. You did however nod once, letting him know that he could continue without fear of being interrupted.

“I just love you a lot, y’know that, don’t ya?”

You nodded once more and gently sat on the edge of your bed, and Sonny immediately came to stand in front of you, sitting his glass of wine down on your bedside table.

“I really don’t mean t’be clingy or overbearing. I’m just Italian. And I’m sorry if it comes off as me bein’ controlling or whatever-”

“It doesn’t,” you interrupted, shaking your head gently. “It never does. I’ve always known that everything you do comes from a place of caring.”

“I just don’t want you to ever think that I’m some manipulative asshole boyfriend who has to know what you’re doin’ at all hours of the day.”

“I really don’t think that Sonny, I never would.”

It was his turn to nod, but he still looked dejected. You slowly grabbed his hands and pulled him closer to you, until your knees were touching the front of his legs.

“You know I love you too.”

“I know, I know,” he smiled gently, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. “But am I really that clingy?”

You couldn’t help but laugh at his question, and he even let out a small chuckle himself.

You shook your head, sighing as you stood, but never letting go of his hands. “Not all of the time. But you’re totally being clingy right now, babe.”

“Am not,” he scoffed, playfully rolling his eyes as he began to follow you back into the kitchen.

“So why don’t you go on home then?”

He stopped dead in his tracks at your words, his eyes narrowing just slightly at the smirk on your face. His own smirk soon followed though, and he was biting on his bottom lip as he continued to stand in his spot.

“Please don’t make me.”

You both laughed, pulling each other into a hug at the same time before walking back into the kitchen just as the timer for the pasta went off. You shared a wonderful meal together that evening, and spent the rest of the night just how you had wanted — cuddled underneath a blanket with your detective and a cup of cocoa.

You really didn’t mind that he was clingy, as long as you got to end every night like this.


End file.
